Category: Travel

The town of Spoleto is a unique mix of remnants from its Roman and medieval past which goes back to the Bronze Age.  It’s an ancient hilltop city with sparkling Umbrian views and a population that swells during festival season. The Festival dei Due Mondi – the Festival of Two Worlds- with rich offerings of music, theater, dance has been going on since 1958 and brings in the crowds from around the world. This ancient city marches to a different drummer as music,  dance and theater lovers from around the world visit each summer to attend these events.

As we approached the town, I was surprised to see a distinctly modern addition to the landscape: escalators.  These so-called travellators wisk the visitor to the top of the hills – very handy for the modern concert-goer. Up we climbed..effortlessly.  No huffing and puffing. When we got to the top, I also spied elevators.  Very handy.

From the modern to the ancient: at the top of the hill, we viewed the ancient 13th century aqueduct and bridge, il Ponte Delle Torre.

As we walk from top to bottom, we see the beautiful 11th-13th century Romanesque duomo cathedral of S. Maria Assunta, which was cut off from us because a film crew was in residence. The most popular TV soap in Italy, Don Matteo, is filmed here because it is considered to be the purest of all Italian cities, not having been spoiled by tourism. Not to be thwarted, our ingenious Alice knew of a back route to the cathedral, so we followed her lead, and, with our guide, were able to gain entrance into the interior and learn about the stunning frescos at the altar made by Filippo Lippi.

We had time on our own to wander the streets and check out the local population. There was a small produce vendor selling his wares and people relaxing in cafes and strolling into shops

Time for lunch!  After all that walking, we needed to fortify ourselves..but first, more local color shots.

Okay.  On to the food!

Fortified by pasta, roasted vegetables and delicious chocolate dessert and having that slight glow from the never-ending glasses of wine, we propelled ourselves to our next activity: rafting on the Nera River for some, enjoying the unspoiled village of Scheggino for others.  Guess which activity I chose?

Vicki and I had time to visit the truffle museum, wander the winding roads of the village, do some nice photography, pop into the local church, watch the ducks and visit locals playing cards. Of course, we had a gelato. Very relaxing.

Later, with Irene and Marcel flanking Vicki on the bench, we awaited the return of the rafters.

And here they come. Everyone agreed that it was an exhilarating adventure. Kickass, in fact.

The day isn’t over but this post is. After dinner in Trevi, we had seat reservations to the Palio, thanks to Alice. I’ll tell you all about it in the next post. Being a temporary local in a small village and having a great guide can be very advantageous.

Ciao ciao for now!

 

We say arrivederci to Pienza and its wonderful small hotel, the Piccolo Hotel la Valle.  Tonight we begin our tour of Umbria and stay in Trevi.  I enjoy my last cup of cappuccino from one of the hotel’s beautiful cups.

Our first stop is Assisi, home of St Francis, to see its magnificent 13th century basilica built in his honor. As you can imagine, this is a big tourist stop, especially for pilgrims.  We had a local guide explain some of the frescos by Giotto. We also went into the crypt to see the tomb of St Francis.  There are actually two houses of worship, one on top of the other.  The frescos in the lower church are more plentiful but more subtle in colors.  I preferred it to the upper church, though it was also magnificent.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photos inside the building, but it was composed of floor-to-ceiling frescos depicting the life of Christ.  The interior is spectacular.  Try googling to see interior shots.  The Umbrian landscape around the city is spectacular and the city itself is filled with tourist shops, not all of a religious nature.

We departed for Cantina Dionigi, a family-owned winery producing white as well as red wine.  We enjoyed delicious bread with olive oil, coldcuts, and delicious lentil soup for lunch, along with three tastings. This winery architecture was ultra modern, out in the vineyards with lovely views.

Our last stop was to the unique and charming medieval village of Bevagna. There is a yearly fair where, for the weekend of the fair, the residents use none of the conveniences of modern times.  They live without TV, internet, electricity – what we consider necessary modern conveniences.  There are many craftsmen who have set up their ateliers making products the way they used to be made.  We visited a fabric maker and a paper maker.

Our new home for three nights was the hilltop village of Trevi, with architecture spanning Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods.  We were staying at a hotel at the top of the village.  The luggage had to be brought up by small cars. As we trudged up the winding cobblestone roads to the hotel and got our key, we were delighted to discover that we had not only a room with a view, but two views, with an extra light-filled reading room, complete with a chair and table.  Nice!  I am going to like it here. We also discovered that a Palio, or medieval competition, was to be held over the weekend. Oh, my. More adventures!

Next stop: Spoleto!

 

 

 

We stayed in the picture-perfect tiny village of Pienza in southern Tuscany for three nights. It is in the Val d’Orcia, between Montecatini and Montepulciano and is the ideal base for exploring the area. Even though we were off during much of the day on side trips, we always had some time to return to this lovely village. It is also a UNESCO World Heritage site for its depiction of a utopian Renaissance city.

Pienza was founded in 1300 when it became the property of the Piccolomini family and in 1405 Aeneas Silvias Piccolomini was born. An Italian humanist later to become Pope Pius II, as pope, he changed its name from Corsignano, and had the entire village rebuilt as an ideal Renaissance town, with the core of the city anchored from its central piazza. He meant for it to be a retreat from the stress of ruling in Rome. Today,  day trippers come to enjoy the views and architecture, but those who stay here get to enjoy it as temporary residents.

We enjoyed visiting the Palazzo Piccolomini, the family estate, and it was only recently when I got home that I realized that some of the rooms were used in the classic Zefferelli film version of Romeo and Juliet, filmed in the late 60s.  The gardens at dusk were spectacular.  Family lived in the home until the early 1960s.  Unfortunately, we were unable to photograph the interior.

We had some free time one of the mornings when we were there, so we had  lovely walk in the countryside surrounding the village

It was a pleasure to visit Tuscany and to be able to come home to this ideal village each night.

I’m at Rome airport, and I’ve checked in for my first flight to Paris. I’ll fly nonstop to SFO after that. There’s something good to be said about arriving at the airport at 4:30 AM. I’m flying Air France with economy plus which was discounted dramatically by the OAT people – $50 per seat for what others are paying 900€! – which entitles me to Sky Priority treatment. I jumped the line to get my bag checked. I waited five minutes. Amazing..

Since I have free time, a rarity these last three weeks, I decided to write about one of the most interesting day trips we had on Wednesday September 27.  This was optional, which means we paid extra, but it was well worth it. I’d never heard of these two places in italy and I imagine you haven’t either. There were eight of us; the rest of the group decided to stay in beautiful Pienza and explore the village.

Our first photo stop was at the walled tufa city. This almost perfect site was startling in its complexity: seeing a walled city like this reminded me of a carefully constructed sand castle.  We drove to our first restroom stop in the village, where we stopped at the Italian equivalent of a bar and small convenience store, where we either had a quick espresso or picked up a bottle of water as payment for using their facilities, and we had a few minutes to stroll around the street.  I found a nice local to capture digitally and a cat as well, of course.

Our first tour was to the Sovana Archeological Park, in the city of tufa, where there was an Etruscan necropolis.  We met our local guide there. It is a unique place for both lovers of nature and lovers of archeology, and the tombs we saw encompassed  the various levels of society during the Etruscan era.  Our guide showed us the tomb of a common person, and then the tomb of someone of high standing in the society, the Hildebrand tomb, which resembled a temple.  We walked around and looked at what had probably been headstones, scattered throughout the park.  Most of the graves are empty, because the bodies had been taken by tomb robbers throughout the centuries.

The rock in this area is called tufa, which is a soft kind of volcanic rock. We were in two tufa villages this day.

Another amazing thing about this park were the caves, that allowed the Etruscans to navigate between one part of their city to another. These caves were used even in recent history, and partisans hid in them – we saw a date : 1945, carved into the soft stone.

The town of Pitigliano was voted as one of the most beautiful villages in Italy, which it is. It is also a historical treasure trove of information about the Jewish population, which was thriving and coexisting nicely until the Medici family came into power. They were segregated into a ghetto, which was later called the “little Jerusalem,” which is now a museum.  We were able to go underground to see the structures where the people lived and worked. They were able to go out into the village during the day, and in 1773, a new ruler, the liberal Catholic Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pierrot Leopoldo, officially recognized the Jews of Pitigliano, which meant they could come and go as they pleased. By 1799 the ghetto was desegregated and by 1850 there were only 400 Jews in town, roughly 10% of the population.  The population shrank in 1866 when a unified Italy meant that Jews were granted equal rights and were allowed to move about the country.  Many left for the bigger cities. In 1938 when the Fascist racist laws were applied there were only 60 Jews living there, and one poignant photo shows a Bar  Mitzvah during this time.  Catholic families in the area saved these people from the Nazis; others hid in caves.  In fact, the only Jews from the village who were killed were those who fled.  There is a synagogue here but services are no longer held.  The family of Elena Servi, age 82 is the only surviving Jewish family in town;   she has dedicated her life to preserving and restoring her hometown’s Jewish history.

An aside: I’m home now as I finish this post.  I found a fascinating article in The NY Times called “A little Jerusalem in the Heart of Italy” if you’d like to google it for more information.  It’s a detailed article about a unique place, well off the beaten track of the usual tourist itinerary.

We had lunch in the village and a little time to explore on our own before returning to our hotel and village of Pienza.

Just before we left I captured a few more photos of this beautiful special village.

 

---

---

Today we visited Montepulciano, a wine village in Tuscany. It was crowded and touristy, but had beautiful views. We even caught a music – dance performance on the main square!

 

No more time to write today! Breakfast awaits, then a drive to Rome, stopping at the Park of the Monsters along the way. I fly home tomorrow but this isn’t the end of my posts. There’s so much more to tell: visiting Spoleto, site of the fabulous festival with its beautiful architecture, and taking a trip to the countryside for truffle hunting, drinking proseco and eating scrambled eggs with truffles on a mountain top! That was one kick ass Adventure.

Yes, there’s more to come! Stay tuned.

 

 

 

 

We left our beautiful hotel, the Villa Sabolini, regretfully. There are, however, compensations.

We spent the day in Siena’s Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage site and rival of Florence.  Both cities, prosperous from the Middle Ages on, have been competing for status and power over the years. Siena is famous for its horse race in the streets known as the Palio.  The city is divided into seventeen districts called contrades, and each one is in competition for this event, held twice a year in the main square, the Piazza del Campo.

Alice introduced us to our local guide; we see one of the signs for the contrada, or neighborhood.

Our local guide showed us some of the sites, then we were fortunate enough to meet a young lady who is active in the Bull contrade. We met her in the church of her contrade and then in their social hall a few houses away. One does not need to be born into a contrade: she and her husband are both from Rome, but met and married here when they were both students at the university. She explained the feeling of pride she felt in belonging to this group and being a part of the social life of the city. She showed us items she helped sew for the Palio.

---

Our guide also showed us two important churches, the first one associated with St. Catherine, the patron saint of Siena, and the duomo, or cathedral, with its bell tower. We strolled the narrow, winding cobblestone streets from the cathedral  on the top to the Campo at the bottom.

When we had free time, went back to discover more about the cathedral complex. We went through the massive interior, visited the library – my favorite part – and went through the museum.  At the top of the museum it was possible to walk up to the top outside to see the spectacular view..and we did.  And it was.

We drove to the beautiful village of Pienza for our next three-day stop.  It’s the home of two popes, and a wonderful example of a perfectly built Renaissance village.  Our hotel was a small, family-run place with spectacular views of the countryside.

I’m running about four days behind;  our days are busy and internet can be slow. We’re now in Trevi, in Umbria, with four days left on the trip.  I’ll continue writing on the road and back at home.  We’ve had some great adventures on our journey and I want to tell you all about them.

 

We left the Villa Sabolini after breakfast to head out for a one hour drive in the countryside of Chianti to visit an olive oil mill.

The Pruneti olive oils are used in the high-end Michelin started restaurant in Europe and they are beginning distribution to the US. Their representative gave a very clear and detailed presentation about the process of converting olives into olive oil, answered questions, and then we went upstairs to the tasting room. They’re  involved in the whole process, from growing the olives in a non-pesticide environment to the sale of the product.

Upstairs we were given three samples of oil to taste. The first was light, with little after taste, the medium was a bit heavier with a slight bitter peppery taste, and the third, intense, was spicy on the throat with a very bitter aftertaste.  I preferred the lightest of the three, which was suitable for fish and salad.

Our second stop was to cooking school, at la casa de Christina. What a great visit! Though most people know I’m not a cook, I enjoyed participating in the event and documenting it.

When we drove up, I thought I’d gone to Chianti heaven – the garden and house were gorgeous.  We were greeted with Proseco and Bruschetta.

After checking out the garden and house, we went inside to start cooking.  We were cooking and eating home-made pasta, pork roast and marscapone with peaches for dessert. Christina was the teacher and  we helped in the kitchen.  I took pictures.

After cooking and eating a large lunch with wine, we thanked Christina and returned to the hotel in the late afternoon, where some people did an organized walk. I   decided to walk around the property and village. It was too cool to swim but I enjoyed seeing the pool, the gardens and the neighborhood. There was a nice agriturismo next door, where travelers enjoy the property and food of the resident, who share their home and cook all the food from their garden for their guests.

Tomorrow we spend the day in Siena!

 

 

---

I woke this morning to check out the weather from the window -it’s another lovely day in Tuscany!

Today’s journey takes us to the hamlet of San Galgano, where we hiked up to a small round church at the top of a hill, where inside a tiny chapel, we see a sword in a stone. Is this the Celtic myth? It’s a mystery.

Today we were greeted by some feline inhabitants of the chapel, which I captured digitally.

We walked through the woods down a hillside to the ruined 13th century Cistercian Abbey of San Galgano, roofless but beautiful. It was an atmospheric foggy day. Our guide Alice took a group shot of us in an empty abbey – very unusual to find it empty, since there were lots of tourists there.

After our visit here, we got back in our van to explore the hill town of Chiusdino, where we visited the museum and climbed up to see the views. It was an exciting day In this small village, since there was a marathon race going on.

We had a long Sunday lunch in a wonderful local restaurant, where the wine was flowing and locals and visitors alike enjoyed the ambiance of freshly cooked local delicacies. I enjoyed the malfattis, though they weren’t like my local Napa ones from my childhood. They were fresh from kitchen to table.  The marscapone dessert was to die for.

We were rained out for the rest of the afternoon so some of us visited a museum showing the history of glass, while others of us returned to the villa to read or rest, write their posts or check their email..and we had another delightful dinner at the villa.

Tomorrow we’ll go on a tour of an olive oil plant for a tasting, then visit Christina in her home for a cooking class – with lunch, of course.

 

 

We said arriverderci to Lucca and got on the road to Florence!

Our guided tour started in the outskirts on the “other side” of the Arno river, at the top of a nearby hill,  and we walked down to the historical city center, past the Ponte Vecchio seen from a distance  to plunge ourselves into the tourist-infested mayhem that brings visitors the world over to see this living outdoor museum, the world’s #1 tourist attraction.  I’ve been here before a few times so seeing it from a fresh perspective was much better than immediately going into the center of town. Our guide was fantastic! We walked through town by looking at gardens and views from various elevations, which turned out to be  a very civilized way to get to Florence

After our our guided tour, Ann and I decided to do some some café-sitting and people watching at the Piazza Della Signoria, Florence’s main square,  with some sustinence –  a large ice cream concoction and some San Pelligrino were desperately needed. That was lunch. We booked advanced reservations for the Boboli Gardens, part of the Pitti Palace,  so we walked over, through the always-crowded Ponte Vecchio, and skipped the line entirely. Wasn’t that a good idea? The weather was perfect, the gardens were lovely and we found ourselves winding our way up to the top of the hills of the city to see glorious views all around.

We left the city late afternoon, exhausted. I checked my iPhone: we walked ten miles, 23,306 steps, and climbed 12 stories.  There were lots of steps at the Boboli Gardens!

Our hotel for the next three nights is the gorgeous Villa Sabolini, outside Siena, on the ancient pilgrimage road that brought travelers from Canterbury to Rome.  After ten miles of walking, we looked as bedraggled as any modern day pilgrims could;  however, unlike days of old, we were greeted with a choice of welcome drink.  Will it be proseco or spritz?

We were delighted with our room and its views -we even have a view from the bathtub.  That evening, in our elegant private dining room of the hotel, we toasted to adventures yet to come –  in Chianti country.

 

 

Thinking of new countertops? You may consider marble. I knew we’d be visiting the marble quarries of Carrara but I had no idea how exciting it would be!

As we drove up, we saw little patches of white, and then the white predominated – a whole mountain of white marble.  We met our guide in town, who gave us an overview of the history and use of marble, pointed out examples of marble in the town of Carrara, then our bus climbed up the mountain, where we finally stopped at a level area.  We went into the gift shop to use the facilities and changed vehicles.

There were eight of us in each four-wheel drive vehicle, one in the front, three in the back and the rest in the rear.  We set off and climbed once more, but this time, we were driving on granite!  It was a wild ride!  Our guide/driver was in the first vehicle and was narrating from his headset as we drove along. His wife drove the second car.  He would stop at a work area and ask if we could visit. Sometimes we could and other times we couldn’t. If we could, we would be able to get out to see what the workmen were doing. Since we were at a work site, we had to wear hard hats.

By the end of the journey, it felt like we were in the clouds! It was a beautifully clear day and we could see all the way to the Adriatic sea..

We went back down the mountain, slowly, slowly, with many ups and downs, like a roller coaster ride, but we made it back unscathed. We thanked our guide and driver for a most unique experience

Next stop: lunch!  We returned to the town of Carrara, to the Piazza del Duomo.  Did you know that Michaelangelo stayed at a room here in the piazza when he was picking out marble for his statue of David? Yes, there’s a plaque!

After lunch, we returned to Lucca to spend one more afternoon and evening. Our time is ending here so we had to pack.  In our free time,  some explored the streets, some went shopping, and others had a light supper. In the evening, most of us attended a concert of Puccini’s music performed by a soprano, a tenor and a pianist, given in an old church.  The accoustics were wonderful and the locals and a few tourists enjoyed the recital.  After the recital, it was time for one more gelato before saying good night.

Tomorrow we go to the Tuscan countryside, to stay at the Villa Sabolini, near Siena, to discover the region of Chianti!